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EFFector Vol. 11, No. 8 June 13, 1998 editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
IN THIS ISSUE
* IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT, JUNE 17 DEADLINE: FULL HOUSE COMMERCE
COMMITTEE TO MARKUP DIGITAL COPYRIGHT BILL THREATENS ONLINE
PRIVACY AND SECURITY; CONTACT KEY REPRESENTATIVES ON COMMITTEE
1. SUMMARY
2. THE LATEST NEWS
3. IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE
4. SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX
5. MORE ACTION TO TAKE
* ADMINISTRIVIA
See http://www.eff.org for more information on EFF activities &
alerts!
_________________________________________________________________
Please distribute widely to appropriate forums,
no later than June 19 (action deadline: June 17).
June 13, 1998
IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT
Consumer Project on Technology ( http://www.cptech.org )
Electronic Frontier Foundation ( http://www.eff.org )
Electronic Privacy Information Center ( http://www.epic.org )
DIGITAL COPYRIGHT BILL THREATENS ONLINE PRIVACY AND SECURITY
CONTACT KEY REPRESENTATIVES ON THE HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE
* Latest News: House Commerce Committee (following hearing by one of
its subcommittees last week) will mark-up the "WIPO Copyright
Treaties Implementation Act" (H.R. 2281) would over-regulate
emerging technologies, eliminate privacy protections, outlaw
reverse engineering and encryption security measures, and weaken
fair use privileges. The Committee is thought to now be more aware
of the problems, but not interested in shelving this bill in favor
of H.R. 3048, a better version.
* What You Can Do Now: Follow the directions below and call members
of House Commerce Committee. Ask them to, at minimum, amend the
bill so that it will not attempt to regulate technology itself,
but rather the behavior that constitutes an infringing misuse of
the technology. Ask them to substitute the provisions of H.R. 3048
for those of H.R. 2281.
For More Information, see the Digital Future Coalition
http://www.dfc.org
_________________________________________________________________
THE LATEST NEWS
On Friday June 5, the House Commerce Subcommittee on
Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection will held a hearing
on H.R. 2281, the "WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act",
already approved over many objections by the House Judiciary Committee
At the hearing, the subcommittee members asked lots of well-informed
questions and seemed to understand some of the civil liberties
concerns. But the pressure from the other side (the US Patent &
Trademark Office and large corporate intellectual property holders)
remains great, and it is an uphill battle for us to get any
concessions.
mark-up (revision) by the full House Commerce Committee is scheduled
for June 17, and the Committee is set to release the revised bill on
the 19th. It is imperative that we get as many people as possible to
call members of the Commerce Committee and tell them their concerns
with the bill. All indications are that killing the bill, in favor of
the Boucher/Campbell alternative, H.R. 3048, is considered out of the
question. However, a complete substitution of the bad text with the
alternative language can be made as an amendment, and that is what we
must ask for.
As currently written, H.R. 2281 would dramatically alter the
time-honored balance between content owners and the user community.
The legislation will also seriously erode the leadership that the
United States currently enjoys in research and development of
encryption algorithms, cryptographic products, and computer security
technology. And the bill seriously threatens privacy online.
Three sections of the bill are extremely threatening to privacy, free
speech, and computer security:
Section 1201: Makes the use, manufacture or sale of ANY technology
that can be used to circumvent copyright protections illegal. A host
of vital technologies, equipment and processes "can" be, but are not
intended, for such abuse, and Congress should not outlaw them, any
more than they may outlaw the making or sale of crowbars or baseball
bats because they "can" be used for vandalism. This section will:
* criminalize the manufacture, import, or use of tools necessary to
perform research in cryptography. Under HR 2281, the manufacture
of software tools that test the viability of a proposed encryption
algorithm would be prohibited.
* impede the ability of system operators to find and correct
weaknesses in their systems. System operators have important,
legitimate reasons to attempt to circumvent such access control
technologies to confirm the security of the password file or other
vulnerable elements of the system. They must be able to use or
create software that circumvents access control technologies to
determine the robustness of the security system.
* prevent computer users from protecting their privacy online by
removing cookies from their computer. Additionally, if cookies are
used as a copyright protection system it would be unlawful to
manufacture a device that removes the cookie from the system.
Section 1202: Allows for the collection of personally identifiable
information as part of the Copyright Management System. This section
will:
* allow content owners to collect personally-identifiable
information about users who access their copyrighted works. This
will eliminate anonymous reading and allow content owners to track
not only which online magazines you buy but also which articles
you read and which pictures you look at.
Section 201: Encourages system operators to violate the privacy and
protected speech rights of their users. This section will:
* exempt service providers from liability if they disable access to
or remove material claimed to be infringing, regardless of whether
the material or activity is ultimately determined to be
infringing. This encourages them to remove potentially protected
speech without any real proof of infringement. It also allows OSPs
to violate users' privacy by sifting through customers' electronic
files, documents and e-mail looking for potential infringements.
ALTERNATIVE: SUPPORT THE PROVISIONS OF H.R. 3048
A much better version of WIPO treaty implementation provisions, which
punish the act of unlawful infringement yet maintain privacy and fair
use protections, can be found in H.R. 3048, the "Digital Era Copyright
Enhancement Act." H.R. 3048's language would encourage the development
of new technologies and markets for copyrighted works in digital form,
and give intellectual property holders the strong tools they need to
go after infringing conduct while protecting privacy, security, and
anonymity. For political reasons, the Committee seems unwilling to
accept H.R. 3048 on its own, but they may be willing to accept the
provisions in it, while keeping the same bill number as the currently
harmful H.R. 2281. It is important that our position not be seen as
"obstructionist", but constructive, and conducive to the passage of
some form of WIPO treaty implementation.
_________________________________________________________________
IMMEDIATE ACTION TO TAKE
All privacy, encryption, fair use, and security supporters, especially
supporters from states represented on the House Commerce Committee,
are asked to IMMEDIATELY contact these key Representatives and ask
them to work for amendment of H.R. 2281 with the more balanced
approach in the language of H.R. 3048. Then contact your own
legislator and urge them to do the same should H.R. 2281 make it
through the Committee intact.
We ask you to take JUST TWO MINUTES to contact the offices of the
Committee members and your own representative and express your opinion
no this legislation! Urge the Representatives to refrain from
burdening the development of new technologies and ensure that privacy
is protected in the digital world.
If you are unsure who your legislators are or how to contact them, see
the EFF Congress Contact Factsheet at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
Feel free to make use of the sample fax and phone "script" below.
Please at minimum contact your own Rep, and Committee chairman Tom
Bliley, ranking member John Dingell, Telecommunications Subcommittee
chair Billy Tauzin, and ranking Subcommittee member Edward Markey (the
latter two having lead a somewhat sympathetic hearing last week on the
matter). If you have time, please call/fax as many of the members of
the Committee as you can.
HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE
ST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX
DIST
---------------------------------------- (Use 202 area code)---
VA 07 R Tom Bliley (chair) 225-2815 225-0011
MI 16 D John D. Dingell 225-4071 226-0371
LA 03 R W.J. "Billy" Tauzin 225-4031 225-0563
MA 07 D Edward J. Markey 225-2836 226-0340
FL 09 R Michael Bilirakis 225-5755 225-4085
NY 27 R Bill Paxon 225-5265 225-5910
PA 08 R James C. Greenwood 225-4276 225-9511
ID 02 R Michael D. Crapo 225-5531 225-8216
NC 05 R Richard Burr 225-2071 225-2995
CA 49 R Brian P. Bilbray 225-2040 225-2948
KY 01 R Ed Whitfield 225-3115 225-3547
IA 04 R Greg Ganske 225-4426 225-3193
GA 10 R Charlie Norwood 225-4101 225-0279
OK 02 R Tom Coburn 225-2701 225-3038
NY 02 R Rick Lazio 225-3335 225-4669
WY AL R Barbara Cubin 225-2311 225-3057
CA 29 D Henry A. Waxman 225-3976 225-4099
TX 04 D Ralph M. Hall 225-6673 225-3332
NY 10 D Edolphus Towns 225-5936 225-1018
NJ 06 D Frank Pallone Jr. 225-4671 225-9665
OH 13 D Sherrod Brown 225-0123 225-2256
OR 01 D Elizabeth Furse 225-0855 225-9497
FL 20 D Peter Deutsch 225-7931 225-8456
MI 01 D Bart Stupak 225-4735 225-4744
OH 06 D Ted Strickland 225-5705 225-5907
CO 01 D Diana DeGette 225-4413 225-5657
OH 04 R Michael G. Oxley 225-2676 n/a
CO 06 R Dan Schaefer 225-7882 225-3414
TX 06 R Joe Barton 225-2002 225-3052
IL 14 R J. Dennis Hastert 225-2976 225-0697
MI 06 R Fred Upton 225-3761 225-4986
FL 06 R Cliff Stearns 225-5744 225-3973
OH 05 R Paul E. Gillmor 225-6405 225-1985
WI 02 R Scott L. Klug 225-2906 225-6942
CA 47 R Christopher Cox 225-5611 225-9177
GA 09 R Nathan Deal 225-5211 225-8272
OK 01 R Steve Largent 225-2211 225-9187
WA 01 R Rick White 225-6311 225-3524
CA 27 R James Rogan 225-4176 225-5828
IL 20 R John Shimkus 225-5271 225-5880
VA 09 D Rick Boucher 225-3861 225-0442
TN 06 D Bart Gordon 225-4231 225-6887
NY 17 D Eliot L. Engel 225-2464 225-5513
OH 14 D Thomas C. Sawyer 225-5231 225-5278
NY 07 D Thomas J. Manton 225-3965 225-1909
IL 01 D Bobby L. Rush 225-4372 226-0333
CA 14 D Anna G. Eshoo 225-8104 225-8890
PA 04 D Ron Klink 225-2565 225-2274
MD 04 D Albert R. Wynn 225-8699 225-8714
TX 29 D Gene Green 225-1688 225-9903
MO 05 D Karen McCarthy 225-4535 225-4403
_________________________________________________________________
SAMPLE PHONE "SCRIPT" & SAMPLE FAX
If you would like to both call and send a fax, this extra action would
certainly help.
For best results, try to put this in your own (short!) words, and be
emotive without being hostile.
IF YOU ARE A CONSTITUENT (i.e., you live in the same district as the
Rep. you are contacting) make sure to say so. For example "I am a
constituent, and I'm calling/writing because...."
IF YOU REPRESENT A COMPANY OR ORGANIZATION, say so: "I'm Jane Person
from Personal Technologies Inc. of Austin. I'm calling on behalf of
Personal Technologies to ask the Representative to...." Business
interests carry a lot of weight with many legislators, especially if
they are in the legislator's home district. Legislators also generally
heed organizational voices over individual ones.
PHONE "SCRIPT"
You: [ring ring]
Legislative staffer: Hello, Representative Lastname's office.
You: I'm calling to urge Representative Lastname to support, at the
June 17 Commerce Committee markup, amendment of H.R. 2281, the
"WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act", with the language in
the more carefully crafted alternative, H.R. 3048, the
Boucher/Campbell "Digital Era Copyright Enhancement Act". I am
extremely concerned about H.R. 2281's effects on privacy.
Additionally, the bill's anti-circumvention provision is overbroad.
Both bills have the same goals, but the provisions of H.R. 3048
replacing those of 2281 will protect intellectual property while
also protecting privacy, security, science and free speech. At bare
minimum, I ask Representative Lastname to help ensure that the WIPO
bill is amended to criminalize infringing behavior instead of
trying to ban technology that simply "could" be used for
infringement even if not intended for such abuse. Thank you.
Staffer: OK, thanks. [click]
It's that easy.
You can optionally ask to speak to the legislator's technology &
intellectual property staffer. You probably won't get to, but the
message may have more weight if you succeed. The staffer who first
answers the phone probably won't be the tech/i.p. staffer. If you are
not successful, try contacting your legislator's home-state office
(contact info is available from the legislator's home page at
http://www.house.gov, and ask them who the appropriate staffer is.
Then call the DC office and ask for this person by name.
SAMPLE FAX
Relevant Congressional fax numbers are in the contact list above.
Please, if you have the time, write your own 1-3 paragraph letter in
your own words, rather than send a copy of this sample letter.
(However, sending a copy of the sample letter is far better than
taking no action!)
Dear Rep. Lastname:
I am writing to ask you to support, at the June 17 Commerce
Committee markup, amendment of H.R. 2281, the "WIPO Copyright
Treaties Implementation Act". The Act has several troubling
provisions that would impose a variety of civil and criminal
penalties for the use, manufacture or sale of technologies,
including multi-purpose computers, home electronic devices and
software programs, that "could" be used to overcome technological
safeguards on copyrighted works, even though not intended for such
abuse. This bill would impede encryption research that helps ensure
secure networks, prevent legitimate reverse engineering in the
development of new software, and effectively overrule the Supreme
Court's decision in Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464
U.S. 417 (1984), which permitted the home taping of television
broadcasts. It also could jeopardize education and research by
allowing copyright owners to "lock up" public domain materials, and
by frustrating the fair use rights of information consumers.
H.R. 2281 goes much farther than is necessary under the WIPO
treaties. Instead, more balanced and rational provisions currently
in bill H.R. 3048, the Boucher/Campbell "Digital Era Copyright
Enhancement Act" would solve all of the above problems. H.R. 3048
is a measure providing protection and legal remedies against the
act of circumvention itself when that circumvention is undertaken
for an unlawful purpose.
Please work for H.R. 2281 to be amended by subsitution with the
better-crafted provisions of H.R. 3048, or at bare minimum support
some other effort to change H.R. 2281's focus away from banning
technology and toward punishing wrong-doing. Thank you.
Sincerely,
My Name Here
My Address Here
(Address is especially important if you want your letter to be taken
as a letter from an actual constituent.)
For brief tips on writing letters to Congress, see:
http://www.vote-smart.org/contact/contact.html
The most important tip is to BE POLITE AND BRIEF. Swearing will NOT
help.
_________________________________________________________________
MORE ACTION TO TAKE
After calling/faxing members of the House Commerce Committee, please
contact your own Representatives and urge them to oppose H.R. 2281,
the WIPO Copyright Treaties Implementation Act.
You may also wish to follow up your calls and faxes with e-mail.
HOUSE LEADERSHIP
ST PTY REPRESENTATIVE PHONE FAX
DIST
---------------------------------------- (Use 202 area code)---
GA 6 R Gingrich, Newt 225-4501 225-4656
TX 26 R Armey, Richard 225-7772 226-8100
MO 3 D Gephardt, Richard 225-2671 225-7452
TX 22 R DeLay, Tom 225-5951 225-5241
MI 10 D Bonior, David 225-2106 226-1169
OH 8 R Boehner, John 225-6205 225-0704
CA 47 R Cox, Christopher 225-5611 225-9177
CA 3 D Fazio, Vic 225-5716 225-5141
MD 5 D Hoyer, Steny 225-4131 225-4300
_______________________________________________________________
House leaders are, respectively: Speaker, Majority Leader, Minority
Leader, Maj. Whip, Min. Whip, Republican Conference Chair, Rep. Policy
Committee Chair, Democratic Caucus Chair, Dem. Steering Cmte. Chair.
[end of alert]
_________________________________________________________________
ADMINISTRIVIA
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